One of Africa's most senior church leaders has accused the west of ignoring the threat of the militant Islamist group Boko Haram, days after the reported slaughter of up to 2,000 people by the group. Ignatius Kaigama, the Catholic Archbishop of Jos and president of the Nigerian Bishops Conference, spoke as bodies lay strewn on the ground in Baga, in northeast Nigeria, after a surge by Boko Haram fighters who took over the border town earlier this month.
He highlighted the stark difference between the west's willingness to act when 17 people were killed by militants in France and the approach to the slaughter in Africa.
Estimates of the death toll in Baga and surrounding villages, which were razed by fire, have been put at up to 2,000. Most of the dead were women, children and the elderly who could not flee in time, said Amnesty International, which labelled it the group's deadliest massacre yet.
Archbishop Kaigama told The Independent on Sunday that while the Nigerian government was "dilly dallying" and needed to improve its effectiveness against Boko Haram, the West must also act before the militants' power grew to stretch far beyond Nigeria's borders.
The government's military response to Boko Haram's advance in the north has been described as chaotic and ineffective. Soldiers often claim their allowances aren't paid and there are repeated reports of desertion and mutiny, weakening the army's ability to take on a well-organized and determined foe.
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